


Justice and the World

by Lia404



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akeshu if you squint I guess, Fluff, Gen, I mean literally reverse Goro, Reverse Goro Day, The Velvet Room (Persona Series), but honestly it's more banter than ship, can it be even considered a fix-it, spoiler past november 20
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-08 13:11:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19107784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lia404/pseuds/Lia404
Summary: 6/5 is 5/6 in some parts of the world... time for Reverse Goro Day.It would be an understatement to say that Akira is confused when he wakes up in a Velvet Room that should have disappeared a year ago, and is faced with an upside down (and rather unhappy) former-detective.Headaches ensue.





	Justice and the World

**Author's Note:**

> Me: is overworked and can't complete her Ace Attorney stories for Narumitsu week or even read her to-read backlog of fics  
> Also me: OH NO I PLAYED THIS GAME AND THERE'S THIS CHARACTER THAT HAS BEEN TREATED SO POORLY IT MADE ME YELL FOR HOURS AT THE SCENARISTS BEFORE DIVING INTO THE FANDOM TO FIND FIX-IT FICS AND I MISSED HIS DAY (which was, obviously, 5/6) AND HIS BIRTHDAY (6/2) I **HAVE** TO DO SOMETHING
> 
> So yeah, here's a little thing just to try and post something for the P5 fandom. First attempt in there, I'm nervous. Since today IS 5/6 where I live, but 6/5 for a lot of other parts in the world, I decided to do some silly stuff and call it Reverse Goro Day.
> 
> Hope you'll enjoy these first steps in the fandom with Upside Down Detective Boy.

“This is utterly ridiculous”, Akechi spat, his voice laced with venom.

Not that his murderous glare could do much to make Akira take him seriously at the moment. For what might very well be the first time since they met, Akira actually agreed with him: Akechi _did_ look ridiculous, in a very dramatic way.

A very Akechi way, very fitting to Akira's memories.

“...mind and matter-- welcome to the Velvet Room.”, Igor finished, imperturbable.

Akira snickered.  
Akechi snarled.  
Igor and Lavenza remained as unfrazzled as ever.

When Akira had woken up to the slow, familiar tune, a wave of crashing emotions had hit him like a truck.

First emotion: confusion, when he saw his surroundings. He thought the Velvet Room had disappeared, yet there he was, in his regular clothes, but lying in a prison cell.  
Second emotion: nostalgia. This stupid aria was as soothing as ever, and even if he’d never admit it aloud, he had missed it. He also had missed the slight tug at his mind, not a clear voice, just the knowledge that there was someone else there, beneath the mask he didn’t even seem to be wearing.  
Third emotion: more confusion, when he realized there was another figure in the center of the room beside Igor and Lavenza.

Of all the people to find in the Velvet Room, it had to be the one he'd never expected to see ever again.

Goro Akechi.

Goro “My Life Is Worthless Just Do Your Thing And Forget Me” Akechi who had allowed them to escape from a stupid palace about a year before.

(As if Akira could even forget. The ruined plan. The snarl on his face. The gunshots.)

The former detective was quite a sight, hanging upside-down, tied on a wooden pole that went all the way up to the ceiling. He didn’t seem to have changed a bit, wearing his usual detective clothes--maintained with ropes to the pole. Long gone was the pleasant smile, though: his face was stuck in a very uncomfortable grimace, while his hair just gracelessly fell along the pole. If it were any longer, some strands could have almost swept the floor.

Akira had frozen in shock when he'd noticed Akechi observing him before the boy had spat his first words to him, not paying any attention to Igor’s usual welcoming speech.

To think they were his first word since the gunshots. Well, that really was _utterly ridiculous_ indeed.

The whole scene was so surrealistic that Akira couldn't repress his nervous snickering.

_Akechi had died a year ago and now he was tied on a pole with his head to the floor in the middle of a Velvet Room that shouldn’t have existed anymore._

Before Akira could question if maybe it was a _dream_ dream and not the true trip to another dimension he had grown accustomed to, though, the very much alive and very ridiculously hanging upside down Akechi just went on, his voice dripping with annoyance.

“So is this how things go when you die? You just reappear in a blue place with an annoying music in the stupidest possible form?”  
“I mean, _stupidest_ _possible form_ sounds rather fitting since you seem to have kept your own form.”

Akira winced when the words left his mouth. They had got out without him really thinking them through. Well, it seemed like he was still a bit upset at the whole “Akechi sacrificing himself for nothing” situation.

Figures.

Akechi sent him a furious glare. Akira shrugged.

“You’re still here and whole, it seems. You’re just upside down. No big deal. You’ll get used to the music, and it seems like the chains and guillotines are not even here anymore. So far, it actually sounds not bad at all _for someone who played martyr a year ago_ .”  
“The chains and guill… what the hell are you talking about, Kurusu?”

Lavenza’s clear, calm voice broke the tension between the two boys.

“This place has indeed changed for the best. We’re back to our usual processes, though I confess I’m a bit surprised to see it kept its general, cold appearance of a prison. At least now you’re a guest, and not an inmate anymore. We’re glad to see you here again, Trickster.”

Akira allowed himself a small smile.

“I’m glad to see you again too, Lavenza. We barely had any time to really learn to know each other last time.”

Her face softened and she almost managed to get a word out, had Akechi been able to keep quiet.

“I’m sorry to interrupt this _heartwarming_ little reunion, but would you mind helping me down before engaging in small talk? I'm starting to feel dizzy.”

Akira’s eyes trailed back to the former detective. It did look like his face was getting redder.

“Shame, Akechi. You know, if we leave you like this just a little more, your cheeks will match the colour of your fake mask.”

A wince.

“It wasn’t fake.”

Deadpan.

“Alright, it wasn’t fake, it just wasn’t true.”  
“It was… Listen, alright, I guess we have much to discuss, but just let me down already. We’ll figure this out later. As soon as my body gets a better blood distribution.”  
“Ah, but I’m afraid we can’t, my dear Hanged Man.”

Igor’s calm voice put an abrupt end to the heating up conversation.

“What do you mean you _can’t_ ? You’ve got _hands_ , right?”

Akechi struggled against his bonds, to no avail. Akira barely paid attention, focusing on the last words of the master of the Velvet Room instead.

“What do you mean, Hanged Man? I already have the Hanged Man arcana, and it's certainly not Akechi.”  
“Listen Kurusu, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but _let me down already._ ”

Igor merely nodded.

“My dear guest, you already know you can wield many a persona, and the Fool especially is given the power to gather all arcanas… However, you do have a complete deck already.”  
“So, uh, yeah, I kinda figured I established bonds with all my arcanas. But then, can the Fool gather _more_?”  
“The Fool can. But _you_ can’t.”

That was entirely too confusing. Akira was pretty sure he’d wake with a headache this time again. Forget nostalgia--he suddenly remembered why he disliked these trips to the Velvet Room and hadn’t missed them the _least_ .  
In a desperate attempt to clarify, he questioned again:

“But I thought I _was_ the Fool?”

The answer was immediate, but not from the person he expected it.

“Glad to hear you finally acknowledge it”.

The words had dropped from Akechi's upside-down, snarky mouth twisted in a malicious grin.  
Akira frowned but didn't even spare him a glance. Thankfully, Igor’s voice quickly broke the tension that was building up again.

“Not anymore, Trickster. You have become the World now. This game is not yours anymore. We have a new Fool.”

Akira would have loved to return the jab at Goro, but his mind was now swimming in confusion.

“A new… Fool? _Him_?”

Igor’s toothy smile never faltered.

“A worthy sacrifice made him a Hanged Man, but circumstances brought him to this Room so he could play the game again.”  
“Do you mean this is _his_ Room?”

Lavenza just gave a curt nod, Igor not even bothering to answer.

Well. Seemed like that headache would take a few hours to go away once he woke up.

“Okay, so if it’s his Velvet Room… then _what the hell am I doing here_?”

Akechi didn’t interrupt, actually seeming interested in the answer too.  
Igor just kept smiling and looking at them as if waiting for them to figure out.

Damn long-nosed cryptic old men.

The former detective was the first to give up, asking the question again in a very annoyed voice.

“You know, I rarely agree with Kurusu, but this time I’m with him. If I am to trust you, _I_ am your guest--you seriously need to reconsider how you treat your guests by the way. But if this is _my_ Room, then what the _hell_ is Kurusu doing here, roaming free, when I'm--” he struggled against the bonds tying his arms low on the pole, strands of hair lamely flailing beneath him “--like this!”

“You, my new Fool, have entered a new game. The previous one was rigged. It is time for you to play abiding by the rules.”  
“ _Rules_? Ah!”

Akechi spat the word as if it was burning his mouth and glared again. Akira just remained silent.

“Don't make me believe there are such things as _rules_. It did me so much good to try and follow them the previous time.”  
“You were given a new chance, Fool. And as it seems, you’re still wearing the adornment of the Hanged Man in your own mind, for you to be tied this way. It’s only up to you to find your freedom again.”

Akechi sighed.

“Alright. Weirder things have happened. If I deduce well..."

Had his hands not been tied, Akira was sure the annoying genius-boy would have adopted his usual detective pose.

"...this means I just need to move on from the sacrifice state of mind, find a way to break free and then gather arcanas, right? That sounds feasible, and it's not like I have much of a choice. _Again_."

Emphasis on _again_ \--Akechi frowned, displeasure obvious on his face.

"But there’s still one thing I don’t get, again, if _this_ is _my_ game-- _why is he here?_ ”

Lavenza’s soft voice answered this time, and Akira swore he could have caught a hint of a smirk on her not-so innocent face.

“...I suppose he just followed you.”

Well things were a lot clearer now. Not.

Akira just kind of wanted to wake up at this point. It was just a dream anyway, right? Akechi was _gone_ , his subconscious was just tricking him again, this whole situation made no sense, and he allowed his anger to take over.

“I followed… Hey, I followed no one, I just fell asleep, okay? I have nothing to do with this all. Let me wake up already.”  
“Yeah, because you were always so innocent, always living in _dreams_ , Kurusu.”  
“Well, sometimes some people _have_ to, Akechi. We can’t just all use our own nightmares as comfort blankets to excuse our behaviour.”

Akechi let out a very undignified snort.

“Don’t make me laugh, _Joker_.”  
“And yet that’s literally what my name implies I should do, _Crow._ ”  
“You’re insufferable.”

Akira threw his hands in the air.

“Alright, alright. We’re going nowhere. Let’s see if putting the blood back to your legs helps, I suppose, since my body doesn’t seem ready to wake up already.”

Akira crossed the room to reach the center and try and untie Akechi under Igor and Lavenza’s amused gaze. They were not even trying to hide it anymore--it was nerve-wracking.  
The moment he laid his hands on the ropes around Akechi’s hands, however, Akira felt a wave of energy and an eerily, airy familiar voice echoed through the room.

_I am thou, thou art I..._

Akira gasped and took a step back.

 _Thou hast acquired a new vow._  
_It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity._  
_With the birth of **the World Persona** , you have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power…_

There was a brief moment of silence, barely broken by the fading piano notes in the background.  
Forget _soothing_ \--Akira swore if he heard the tune of the aria start once more he was going to scream and break something. But there was way more than that damn, ominous music to unpack there.

Igor’s voice broke the uncomfortable silence.

“Well, my dear new Fool, to begin gathering your arcanas with that of the World is truly quite a feat.”

Akechi let out a frustrated growl.

“Like this helps anything. Can't you at least untie me?”

Akira shrugged.

“Well, I tried to. But it is _your_ Velvet Room coming from _your_ subconscious and it seems like said subconscious thought it fitting that you'd be upside down and that I could roam free. Guess you’ll remain my reversed Justice arcana for a little while more. But surely, with your amazing deduction skills, you’ll figure something out, right?”  
“I hate you so much.”

Akira chuckled.

“I know. Me too.”

He then allowed himself a smirk and playfully flicked Akechi's nose, letting his fingers trail a bit too long on his cheek while removing his hand.

“Congrats on your very first link, though. Guess you could say I'm your World now.”

Akechi’s widening eyes were the last thing Akira saw before Igor’s voice rang through the room which slowly faded to black.

“Oh, it looks like it’s time to get back to your world, Trickster. Congrats on finding back your Justice arcana. Good luck in this new game--I look forward to observing this new unexpected development.”

The light fell from the window straight upon his face, and Akira blinked awake.  
He was in his bed, in Leblanc's attic-- _his_ attic, the one he had managed to convince his parents to let him go back to after a month spent moping in his hometown. He was about to complete his studies in Tokyo, along with the friends--the family--he had found during his year of probation, and the Velvet Room and Igor and Lavenza were distant memories. It was all gone. Arsene was gone. The damn aria was gone. The metaverse was gone.

“That was such a ridiculous dream”, he mumbled discontentedly.

It wasn’t like it was the first time he dreamt of Akechi, but this specific dream had been particularly vivid and Akira hated it.  
Akechi was dead a year ago. In a very stupid way. Before he could save him. It wasn’t like any kind of “new game” would help. It wasn’t like he could start forming links, the very links he had failed to form last year, the ones that could have saved him...

“Ridiculous indeed. You know, it's the second time I find myself actually agreeing with you. We shouldn’t make this a habit.”

The lazy voice of Akechi, rising from somewhere beside him, had Akira jump and sit in surprise on his bed. Too fast--his head swam worse than his worst hangover--not that he drank, mind you, he was a _responsible_ teenager and never indulged, except maybe that time when... Ok, not the right time to remember this fiasco. Dizziness overcame him.

“Ow…”

His premonitions in the (apparently, actually true and totally not dream-induced) Velvet Room had been right: the headache following the events of the night would linger for quite a few hours.  
Maybe even a few days, he pondered, watching Akechi’s struggling in the cover, his feet on his pillow and his arms lamely hanging from the end of the bed.

“Well, you’re still upside down. And taking way too much space. It’s a one-person-and-a-cat bed, Akechi. You're definitely not a cat.”

Akechi grunted something that sounded a bit like "maybe _you_ rethecat", but Akira let it slide, numbly observing the other boy who was still struggling with the sheets.

Okay.  
Akira kinda needed to say something, there. Anything.

He had a grumpy formerly-dead-detective in his bed and his head was hurting way too much to deal with what it could mean.

“I’m glad they at least let you keep your clothes when they sent you back. Things could have been even more awkward.”  
“Wow, smooth talking, Joker, nice to see you in the real world too.”

Akechi finally managed to free himself from the bedsheet he was tangled in and sat face to face with Akira.  
There was a beat of silence, just enough to make them uncomfortable. Akechi tried to hide his uneasy expression and cleared his throat.

“I--ah. I suppose we have a lot to talk about.”

Akira shrugged.

“I suppose, yeah. Like about how everyone seems to have forgotten about you, or how you survived and ended up there, and how you were dumb enough to think we wouldn’t want to help you. Light topics, you know. Best way to start the day.”  
“Wow, you’re a real sunshine in the morning, have you already been told?”  
“Quite often, by Morgana, who, by chance, seems not to be here at the moment. Can't begin to imagine the state you would be in right now if he had seen you appear seemingly out of nowhere.”

Akechi tore his gaze away from Akira, still looking uncomfortable. He let his eyes wander around the attic, taking in every detail and decoration.

“Nothing seems to have changed much here… Same coffee smell, same dust, same weird collection of random items on your shelves... Has it really been a year?”

Akira sighed.

“It has. You’ve got a lot to catch up on. We gotta tell the others, too. They’re going to flip. Better prepare yourself.”

A heavy silence grew between them again, their minds wandering while they just gazed into the void trying to figure out how to deal with what might well be the most improbable situation they’d had to face so far--and that meant a lot considering how many improbable situations they had already faced.

Then Akechi focused again and frowned at Akira.

“ _I’m your World_ , seriously? Couldn’t you find an even cheesier line to make me come back?”

Akira let his upper body fall back into the mattress with a sigh.

“Oh, fuck it, I thought it was just another dumb dream. At least _I’m_ not the Fool anymore.”

Akechi kicked the pillow under Akira's head with his feet. Akira retaliated by trying to smother him with the blanket. The _emotions_ still hadn’t really come crashing yet, his fuzzy and half-asleep mind slowly, very slowly catching up with what was truly happening, but his insides warmed up a bit when he felt Akechi’s heart beneath the fabric under his hands, very much beating and alive and _ready for a new game_.

_They would have a lot to talk about indeed._

The pillow flew across the attic.

_Maybe not just yet._

Akechi let out a small, surprised, _honest_ laugh, when Akira just tore the cover from him and threw it at his face.  
With a loud thunk, Akechi finally ended up falling from the bed, upside down again.

_Not when his reverse Justice arcana had just awakened to the World again._

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, back to Narumitsu week preparations now.  
> But stay tuned, P5 fandom: I have 3 stories slowly baking at the moment, soon they'll be ready to see the day...


End file.
